Melbourne plans to “drive” cars from city centre

Under Melbourne City Council's draft strategy, cars will be "driven" out of the city in favour of public transport and bicycles under a radical new council strategy that abandons plans for a multibillion-dollar cross-city tunnel and suggests slashing speed limits in the central business district.The strategy calls on the State Government to invest heavily in improved train, tram and bus routes, as well as lobbying for off-peak tolls on major roads to spread peak-hour demand.

An average of 640,000 people visit the city each weekday, with that number forecast to rise to 1 million by 2014. Almost half of those commuters travel into the city by car.